Chapter VI: Instrumental Music (3)

[308] They are extremely short. Some are popular songs. Others in _Agrippina_ have just a phrase. Many of these _arietti da capo_, in _Teseo_, in _Ottone_; make one think of those in Gluck's _Iphigenie en Aulide_.

[309] In _Rinaldo_, the air, _Ah crudel il pianto mio_, the first part is a sorrowful _largo_, the second a furious _presto_.--The finest example of this freedom is the air of Timotheus at the beginning of the second act of _Alexander's Feast_. The two parts in this air differ not only by the movements but by the instrumental colouring, by the harmonic character, and by the very essence of the thought; they are two different poems which are joined together, but each being complete in itself.

[310] Examples; _Teseo_, Medea's _Moriro, ma vendicata_; _Amadigi_ air, _T'amai quant'il mio cor_.

[311] _Riccardo I_, air, _Morte, vieni_.

[312] In the airs _da capo_ of _Ariodante_, the second part is restricted to five bars.

[313] _L'Allegro ed Penseroso_, 1st air, Part 3, _Come with native lustre shine_; after the 2nd part comes a recitative, then the chorus sings the _Da Capo_.--In _Alexander's Feast_ the air, _He sung Darius, great and good_; after the 2nd part comes a recitative, then the _Da Capo_ with Chorus, but altogether free; to speak truly, the _Da Capo_ is only in the instrumental accompaniment.

[314] Handel has found a musical language passing by imperceptible steps from _recitativo secco_, almost spoken, to _recitativo accompagnato_, then to the air. In _Scipione_ (1726) the phrases of the accompanied _recitative_ are enshrined in small frameworks of spoken _recitative_ (see p. 23 of the Complete Handel Edition, the air, _Oh sventurati_). The final air in the first act is a compromise between speech and song. The accompanied _recitative_ runs naturally into the air.

[315] In the chain of Recitatives and Airs of all kinds which succeed or mingle themselves with it, with an astonishing freedom reflecting one after another, or even at the same time the contradictory ideas which course through Roland's mind, Handel does not hesitate to use unusual rhythms, as the 5-8 here which gives a stronger impression of the hero's madness.

[316] It is necessary to consider to some extent the _Arias buffi_. Some have denied Handel the gift of humour. They cannot know him well. He is full of humour, and often expresses it in his works. In his first opera, _Almira_, the _role_ of Tabarco is in the comic style of Keiser and of Telemann. It is the same feeling which gives certain traits a little _caricaturesque_ to the _role_ of St. Peter in the _Passion after Brockes_. The Polyphemus in _Acis and Galatea_ has a fine amplitude of rough buffoonery. But in _Agrippina_ Handel derived his subtle irony from Italy; and the light style with its minute touches and its jerky rhythms from Vinci and Pergolesi (to the letter) appear with Handel in _Teseo_ (1713). _Radamisto_, _Rodelinda_, _Alessandro_, _Tolomeo_, _Partenope_, _Orlando_, _Atalanta_ afford numerous examples. The scene where Alexander and Roxane are asleep (or pretend to be) is a little scene of musical comedy. _Serse_ and _Deidamia_ are like tragi-comedies, the action of which points to _opera comique_. But his gift of humour takes another turn in his oratorios, where Handel not only creates complex and colossal types, such as _Delilah_ or _Haraphah_ in _Samson_, or as the two old men in _Susanna_, but where his Olympian laugh breaks out in the choruses of _L'Allegro_, shaking the sides of the audience with irresistible laughter.

[317] See especially Hugo Goldschmidt: _Treatise on Vocal Ornaments_, Volume I, 1907; Max Seiffert: _Die Verzierung der Sologesaenge in Haendels Messias_ (I.M.G., July-September, 1907, and Monthly Bulletin of I.M.G., February, 1908); Rudolf Wustmann: _Zwei Messias-probleme_ (Monthly Bulletin I.M.G., January, February, 1908).

[318] M. Seiffert has given a description of the whole series of copies of Handel Operas and Oratorios in the Lennard collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. There are to be found there (in pencil) the indication of the ornaments and vocalises executed by the singers. According to M. Seiffert these indications were by Christopher Smith, the friend and factotum of Handel. According to Mr. Goldschmidt they were put in at the end of the eighteenth century. In any case they show a vocal tradition which affords a good opportunity of preserving for us the physiognomy of the musical ornaments of Handel's time.

[319] This is especially true of the oratorios. In the operas, the ornamentation was much more elaborate and more irrelevant to the expression.

[320] The first, by Mr. Seiffert; the second, by Mr. Goldschmidt.

[321] _Teseo_, duet, _Addio, mio caro bene_; _Esther_, duet by Esther and Ahasuerus: "Who calls my parting soul?"

[322] _Arminio_ (1737), duet from Act III. It is to be noticed that _Arminio_ opens also with a duet, a very exceptional thing.

Other duets are in the Sicilian style, as, for instance, that in _Giulio Cesare_, or in the popular English style of the hornpipe, as that of Teofane and Otho in _Ottone_; _A'teneri affetti_.

[323] There are to be found also some fine trios in a serious yet virile style in the _Passion according to Brockes_ (trio of the believing souls: _O Donnerwort_!) and in the _Chandos Anthems_.

[324] See also the quartet in Act I of _Semele_.

[325] With the exception of the Italian operas played at Venice, in which (thanks to Fux) the tradition of vocal polyphony is maintained--a tradition to be put to such good use later by Hasse and especially Jommelli.

[326] The 5-8 time in _Orlando_; the 9-8 in _Berenice_.

[327] The Introduction to _Riccardo I_ represents a vessel wrecked in a tempestuous sea.

[328] _Giulio Cesare_: Scene on Parnassus.

[329] _Ariodante_, _Alcina_.

[330] See _Israel in Egypt_.

[331] _Belshazzar_, _Susanna_, _L'Allegro_, _Samson_.

[332] _Saul_, _Theodora_, _Athalia_.

[333] _Passion according to Brockes_, _Chandos Anthems_, _Funeral Anthem_, _Foundling Anthem_.

[334] _Anthems_, _Jubilate_, _Israel in Egypt_.

[335] _Israel in Egypt_, _Messiah_, _Belshazzar_, _Chandos Anthems_.

[336] _Samson_, _Saul_, _Israel in Egypt_.

[337] _L'Allegro_, _Susanna_, _Belshazzar_, _Alexander Balus_.

[338] _Solomon_, _L'Allegro_.

[339] _Hercules_, _Saul_, _Semele_, _Alexander Balus_, _Solomon_.

[340] I have noticed above the Chorus-Dances in _Giulio Cesare_, _Orlando_, _Ariodante_, _Alcina._ There are also veritable choral dances in _Hercules_, _Belshazzar_, _Solomon_, _Saul_ (the Bell scene), _Joshua_ (Sacred dance in Act II over a Ground-Bass).

[341] So in _Athalia_, _Alexander's Feast_, _L'Allegro_, _Samson_ (Michel's role).

[342] _Jubilate_, _Funeral Anthem_.

[343] Quoted by M. Bellaigue in _Les Epoques de la Musique_, Vol. I, page 109.

[344] In the time of Lully and his school, the French were the leaders in musical painting, especially for the storms. Addison made fun of it, and the parodies of the _Theatre de la Foire_ often amused people by reproducing in caricature the storms of the _Opera_.

[345] Extract from a pamphlet published in London (1751) on _The art of composing music in a completely new manner adapted even to the feeblest intellects_.

Already Pope in 1742 compared Handel with Briareus.

"Strong in new arms, lo! Giant HANDEL stands, Like bold Briareus with his _hundred hands_."

At the time of _Rinaldo_ (1711) Addison accused Handel of delighting in noise.

[346] ".... You refuse to submit to rules; you refuse to let your genius be hampered by them.... O thou Goth and Vandal!... You also allow nightingales and canaries on the stage and let them execute their untrained natural operas, in order that you may be considered a composer. A carpenter with his rule and square can go as far in composition as you, O perfect irregularity!" (_Harmony in Revolt: a letter to Frederic Handel esquire, ... by Hurlothrumbo-Johnson_, February, 1734).

[347] Soon Handel was obliged to publish these works, because fraudulent and faulty copies were being sold. It was so with the first volume of _Suites de pieces pour le clavecin_, published in 1720, and the first volume of Organ Concertos published in 1738. Some of these publications had been made in a bare-faced manner without Handel's permission by publishers who had pilfered them. So it was with the second volume of _Suites de pieces pour le clavecin_, which Walsh had appropriated and published in 1733 without giving Handel an opportunity of correcting the proofs. It is very remarkable that, notwithstanding the great European success achieved by the first volume for the Clavecin, Handel did not trouble to publish the others.

[348] All his contemporaries agree in praising the wonderful genius with which Handel adapted himself instinctively in his improvisations to the spirit of his audience. Like all the greatest Virtuosos he soon placed himself in the closest spiritual communion with his public; and, so to speak, they collaborated together.

[349] Geminiani's Preface to his _Ecole de violon_, or _The Art of Playing on the Violin, Containing all the Rules necessary to attain to Perfection on that Instrument, with great variety of Compositions, which will also be very useful to those who study the violoncello, harpsichord, etc._ Composed by F. Geminiani, Opera IX, London, MDCCLI.

[350] Geminiani himself had attempted to represent in music the pictures of Raphael and the poems of Tasso.

[351] For example, the _Allegro_ of the First Organ Concerto (second volume published in 1740), with its charming dialogue between the cuckoo and the nightingale, or the first of the Second Organ Concerto (in the same volume), or several of the _Concerti Grossi_ (referred to later).

[352] Vol. XLVII of the Complete Handel Edition.

[353] It is a manuscript of 21 pages, the writing appearing to date from about 1710. It is certainly a copy from some older works. Chrysander published it in Volume XLVIII of the Complete Edition. It is probable that Handel had given to an English friend a selection from the compositions of his early youth. They were passed from hand to hand, and were even fraudulently published, as Handel tells us himself in the Edition of 1720: "I have been led to publish some of the following pieces, because some faulty copies of them have been surreptitiously circulated abroad." In this number appear, for example, the Third Suite, the Sarabande of the Seventh Suite, etc.

[354] It is said that Handel wrote these for the Princess Anne, whom he taught the clavecin; but Chrysander had observed that the princess was only eleven years old at the time. It is more probable that these pieces were written for the Duke of Chandos or for the Duke of Burlington.--It is in the second book of Clavier Pieces that we find the much easier pieces written for the princesses.

[355] In their republication of the _Geschichte der Klaviermusik_ by Weitzmann (1899), in which the chapter devoted to Handel contains the fullest information of any description of the Clavier works.

[356] Influences of Krieger and of Kuhnau, particularly in the Halle period (see Vol. XLVIII, pp. 146, 149); French influences in the Hamburg Period (pp. 166, 170); influences of Pasquini (p. 162); and of Scarlatti (pp. 148, 152), about the time of his Italian visits. The influence of Kuhnau is very marked, and Handel had all his life a well-stocked memory of this music, and particularly of Kuhnau's _Klavier-Uebung_ (1689-1692), and the _Frischen Klavier-Fruechte_ (1696), which were then widely known and published in numerous editions. Here is the same limpid style, the same neat soberness of line. Kuhnau's Sarabandes especially are already completely Handelian. It is the same with certain Preludes, certain Gigues, and some of the airs (a trifle popular).

[357] For the German influence, see the Suites 1, 4, 5, 8 (four dance movements preceded by an introduction). For the Italian, see the Suites 2, 3, 6, 7, of which the form approximates to the _Sonata da camera_.

[358] M. Seiffert adds that none of these elements predominate. I would rather follow the opinion of Chrysander, who notices in this fusion of three national styles a predominant tendency to the Italian, just as Bach inclines most to the French style.

[359] One finds there, cycles of variations on Minuets, on Gavottes, especially on Chaconnes and many other Italian forms. The Gigue of the Sixth Suite (in G minor) comes from an air in _Almira_ (1705). One notices also that the Eighth Suite in G major is in the French style (particularly the Gavotte in rondo with five variations).

It is necessary to follow this second volume by the third, which contains works of widely different periods: _Fantasia_, _Capriccio_, _Preludio e Allegro_, _Sonata_, published at Amsterdam in 1732, and dating from his youthful period (the Second Suite was inspired by an _Allemande_ of Mattheson): _Lessons composed for the Princess Louisa_ (when aged twelve or thirteen years) about 1736; _Capriccio in G minor_ (about the same date); and _Sonata in C major_ in 1750.

Finally, there should be added to these volumes, various clavier works published in Vol. XLVIII of the Complete Edition under the title: _Klaviermusik und Cembalo Bearbeitungen_. There is also a selection of the best arrangements of symphonies and airs from the operas of Handel by Babell (about 1713 or 1714).

[360] Mattheson in 1722 quoted the Fugue in E minor as quite a recent work.

[361] Handel himself told his friend Bernard Granville so, when he made him a present of Krieger's work: _Anmuthige Clavier-Uebung_, published in 1699.

[362] The Fugue in A minor was used for the Chorus, _He smote all the firstborn in Egypt_, in _Israel in Egypt_, and the Fugue in G minor. The Chorus, _They loathed to drink at the river_. Another (the 4th) served for the Overture to the _Passion after Brockes_.

[363] The indications: _ad libitum_, or _cembalo_, found time after time in his scores, marked the places reserved for the improvisation.

Despite Handel's great physical power, his touch was extraordinarily smooth and equal. Burney tells us that when he played, his fingers were "so curved and compact, that no motion, and scarcely the fingers themselves, could be discovered" (_Commemoration of Handel_, p. 35). M. Seiffert believes that "his technique, which realised all Rameau's principles, certainly necessitated the use of the thumb in the modern style," and that "one can trace a relationship between Handel's arrival in England and the adoption of the Italian fingering which soon became fully established there."

[364] A fourth was published by Arnold in 1797; but part of the works which it contains are not original. Handel had nothing to do with the publication of the Second Set.

Vol. XXVIII of the Complete Edition contains the Six Concertos of the First Set, Op. 4 (1738) and the Six of the Third Set, Op. 7 (1760). Vol. XLVIII comprises the concertos of the Second Set (1740), an experiment at a Concerto for two organs and orchestra, and two Concertos from the Fourth Set (1797).

Many of the Concertos are dated. Most of them were written between 1735 and 1751; and several for special occasions; the sixth of the First Set for an _entr'acte_ to _Alexander's Feast_; the fourth of the First Set, a little before _Alcina_; the third of the Third Set for the Foundling Hospital. The Concerto in B minor (No. 3) was always associated in the mind of the English public with _Esther_; for the minuet was called the "Minuet from Esther."

[365] May 8, 1735. It was the year when Handel wrote and performed his first Concertos of the First Set.

[366] Hawkins wrote further: "Music was less fashionable than it is now, many of both sexes were ingenuous enough to confess that they wanted this sense, by saying, 'I have no ear for music.' Persons such as these, who, had they been left to themselves, would have interrupted the hearing of others by their talking, were by the performance of Handel not only charmed into silence, but were generally the loudest in their acclamations. This, though it could not be said to be genuine applause, was a much stronger proof of the power of harmony, than the like effect on an audience composed only of judges and rational admirers of his art" (_General History of Music_, p. 912).

[367] In the Tenth Concerto there are two violoncellos and two bassoons. The same in the Concerto for two Organs. In the long Concerto in F major (Vol. XLVIII) we find two horns.

[368] Sometimes the name is found marked there. See the Eighth Concerto in Vol. XXVIII and the Concerto in F major in Vol. XLVIII.

[369] Vol. XLVIII, page 51.

[370] Mr. Streatfeild was, I believe, the first to notice an autograph MS. of the Fourth Organ Concerto to which is attached a Hallelujah Chorus built on a theme from the concerto itself. This MS., which is found at the British Museum, dates from 1735, and appears to have been used for the revival in 1737 of the _Trionfo del Tempo_ to which the Concerto serves for conclusion.

[371] Scriabin also.--_Translator._

[372] _Six Sonatas or Trios for two Hoboys with a thorough bass for the Harpsichord._ Published in Vol. XXVII.

[373] Volume XLVIII, page 112.

[374] Volume XLVIII, page 130.

[375] Volume XXVII.

[376] _VII Sonatas a 2 violons, 2 hautbois, ou 2 flutes traversieres et basse continue, composees par G. F. Handel, Second ouvrage._

[377] Later on, Walsh made arrangements of favourite airs from Handel's Operas and Oratorios as "Sonatas" for flute, violin and harpsichord. Six Vols.

[378] In eleven sonatas out of sixteen. One sonata (the third) is in three movements. Three are in five movements (the first, the fifth and the seventh). One is in seven movements (the ninth).

[379] In the first Sonata, the final _Presto_ in common time uses the theme of the _Andante_ in 3-4, which forms the second movement. In the second Sonata, the final _Presto_ in common time is built on the subject of the _Andante_ in 3-4, slightly modified.

[380] The fifth Sonata is in five movements--_larghetto_, _allegro_ (3-8), _adagio_, _allegro_ (4-4), _allegro_ (12-8).

[381] From five to seven movements.

[382] A Gavotte concludes the first, second, and third trios. A Minuet ends the fourth, sixth, and seventh. A Bourree finishes the fifth. There are also found two Musettes and a March in the second Trio, a Sarabande, an Allemande and a Rondo in the third; a Passacaille and a Gigue in the fourth.

[383] It was the aesthetic of the period. Thus M. Mennicke writes: "Neutrality of orchestral colour characterises the time of Bach and Handel. The instrumentation corresponds to the registration of an Organ." The Symphonic orchestra is essentially built up on the strings. The wind instruments serve principally as _ripieno_. When they used the wood-wind _obbligato_, it went on throughout the movement and did not merely add a touch of colour here and there.

[384] One finds in the middle of the _Trionfo del Tempo_ an instrumental Sonata for 2 Oboes, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Basso, and Organ. In the Solo of the Magdalene in the _Resurrection_, Handel uses two flutes, two violins (muted), _viola da gamba_ and cello; the cello is occupied with a pedal-note of thirty-nine bars at the opening, and then joins the clavecin. In the middle of the air, the _viola da gamba_ and the flutes play by themselves.

[385] In _Radamisto_ (1720) Tiridate's air: _Alzo al colo_, and final chorus. In _Giulio Cesare_, 4 horns.

I do not suppose that Handel was the first to use the clarionets in an orchestra, as this appears very doubtful. One sees on a copy of _Tamerlano_ by Schmidt: _clar. e clarini_ (in place of the _cornetti_ in the autograph manuscript). But it is feasible that just as with the "_clarinettes_" used by Rameau in the _Acanthe et Cephise_, the high trumpets are intended. Mr. Streatfeild mentions also a concerto for two "clarinets" and _corno di caccia_, the MS. being in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge.

[386] _Alcina_, _Semele_, _L'Allegro_, _Alexander's Feast_, the little _Ode to St. Cecilia_, etc. Usually Handel imparts to the cello either an amorous desire or an elegiac consolation.

[387] Thus, in the famous scene which opens the second Act of _Alexander's Feast_ (second part of the air in G minor), evoking the host of the dead who have wandered at night from their graves, there are no violins, no brass; just 3 bassoons, 2 violas, cello, bassi and organ.

[388] In Saul, the scene of the Sorcerer, apparition of the spirit of Samuel.

[389] The _violette marine_ (little violas very soft) in _Orlando_ (1733).

[390] The monster instruments used for the colossal performances at Westminster. The double bassoon by Stainsby made in 1727 for the coronation celebrations. Handel borrowed from the Captain of Artillery some huge drums preserved at the Tower of London, for _Saul_ and for the _Dettingen Te Deum_. Moreover, like Berlioz, he was not afraid of using firearms in the orchestra. Mrs. Elizabeth Carter wrote: "Handel has literally introduced firearms into _Judas Maccabaeus_; and they have a good effect" (_Carter Correspondence_, p. 134), and Sheridan, in a humorous sketch (Jupiter) represents an author who directs a pistol-shot to be fired behind the scenes, as saying, "See, I borrowed this from Handel."

[391] For the scene of Cleopatra's apparition on the Parnassus, at the opening of Act II of _Giulio Cesare_, Handel has two orchestras, one on the stage; Oboe, 2 Violins, Viola, Harp, Viola da gamba, Theorbo, Bassoons, Cellos; the other, in front. The first air of Cleopatra in _Alexander Balus_ is accompanied by 2 Flutes, 2 Violins, Viola, 2 Cellos, Harp, Mandoline, Basses, Bassoon and Organ.

[392] Fritz Volbach: _Die Praxis der Haendel-Auffuehrung_, 1899.

[393] In addition to two parts for Flutes, two for Oboes, two for Bassoons, Violas, Cellos and Basses, Cembalo, Theorbo, Harp and Organ; in all, fifteen orchestral parts to accompany a single voice of _Esther_.

[394] For the Angel's Song.

[395] In _Saul_, "_viola II per duoi violoncelli ripieni_." (See Volbach, _ibid._)

[396] Study from this point of view the progress from the very simple instrumentation of _Alexander's Feast_, where at first two Oboes are used with the strings, then appear successively two Bassoons (air No. 6), two Horns (air No. 9), two Trumpets and Drums (Part II), and, for conclusion, with the heavenly apparition of St. Cecilia, two Flutes.

[397] Dr. Hermann Abert has found the first indication: _crescendo il forte_ in Jommelli's _Artaserse_, performed at Rome in 1749. In the eighteenth century the Abbe Vogler and Schubart already had attributed the invention of the _Crescendo_ to Jommelli.

[398] See Lucien Kamiensky: _Mannheim und Italien_ (_Sammelbaende der I.M.G._, January-March, 1909).

[399] M. Volbach has noticed in the overture to the _Choice of Hercules_, second movement: _piano_, _mezzo forte_, _un poco piu forte_, _forte_, _mezzo piano_, all in fourteen bars. In the chorus in _Acis and Galatea_, "Mourn, all ye muses," one reads _forte_, _piano_, _pp._--The introduction of _Zadock the Priest_ shows a colossal _crescendo_; the introductory movement to the final chorus in _Deborah_, a very broad _diminuendo_.

[400] H. Riemann: _Zur Herkunft der dynamischen Schwellzeichen_ (I.M.G., February, 1909).

[401] Carle Mennicke notices the same sign for _decrescendo_ ((>) on a long note in the Overture to Rameau's _Acanthe et Cephise_ (1751).

[402] Geminiani says of the _forte_ and the _piano_: "They are absolutely necessary to give expression to the melody; for all good music being the imitation of a fine discourse, these two ornaments have for their aim the varied inflections of the speaking voice." Telemann writes: "Song is the foundation of music, in every way. What the instruments play ought to be exactly after the principles of expression in singing."

And M. Volbach shows that these principles governed music then in Germany with all kinds of musicians, even with the trompettist Altenburg, whose _School for the Trumpet_ was based on the principle that instrumental performance ought to be similar to vocal rendering.

[403] Max Seiffert: _Die Verzierung der Sologesaenge in Haendels Messias_ (_Sammelbaende der I.M.G._, July-September, 1907).

[404] Fritz Volbach reckons for the _Concerto Grosso_, 8 first violins, 8 seconds, 6 violas, 4 to 6 cellos, 4 basses--and for the _Ripienists_, 6 first violins, 6 seconds, 4 violas, 3 or 4 celli, and 3 basses.

These numbers are much greater than that of Handel's own performances. The programmes of a performance of the _Messiah_ at the Foundling Hospital, May 3, 1759, a little after Handel's death, give only 56 executants, of which 33 were instrumentalists and 23 singers. The orchestra was divided into 12 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 4 oboes, 4 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 2 horns and drums (see _Musical Times_, May, 1902).

[405] "_Leichtigkeit der Bewegung und Beweglichkeit des Ausdrucks_," as Volbach tells us (suppleness of time and fluidity of expression); these are the essential qualities which alone will revive the true rendering of Handel's works.

[406] _12 Grand Concertos_ for stringed instruments and clavier (Vol. XXX of the Complete Edition), written from September 29 to October 20, 1739, between the little _Ode to St. Cecilia_ and _L'Allegro_. They appeared in April, 1740. Another volume, of which we will speak later, is known under the name of _Oboe Concertos_, and contains six _Concerti Grossi_ (Vol. XXI of the Complete Edition). Max Seiffert has published a well-edited practical edition of these concertos (Breitkopf).

[407] The _Concertino_ consists of a trio for two violins and bass _soli_, with _Cembalo Obbligato_. The Germans introduced wood-wind into the _concertino_, combining thus a violin, an oboe, a bassoon. The Italians remained faithful, generally speaking, to the stringed instruments alone.

[408] The _Concerti Grossi_, Op. 6, of Corelli, published in 1712, represent his lifelong practice. About 1682, George Muffat, visiting Rome, sought to make acquaintance there with the _Concerti Grossi_ of Corelli, who already wrote them for instrumental masses of considerable size. Burney speaks of a concert of 150 string instruments conducted by Corelli at the Palace of Christine of Sweden in 1680 (see Arnold Schering's excellent little book: _Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts_, 1905, Breitkopf).

[409] Geminiani caused three volumes of Corelli's Concertos to be published: Op. 2 (1732), Op. 3 (1735), Op. 7 (1748).

[410] Arnold Schering has noted the relationship between a subject of Geminiani and one in Handel's _Concerto Grosso_, No. 4.

[411] Volume XXI of the Complete Edition.

[412] About 1682, Muffat published at Salzburg his _Armonico tributo_, Chamber Sonatas, where he mingled the style of the Lullian Trio with the style of the Italian _Concertino_. And in 1701, at Passau, he published some _Concerti Grossi_ in the Italian manner after the example of Corelli.

[413] _Concerti Grossi_, Amsterdam, 1721.

[414] Antonio Vivaldi of Venice (1680-1743), choirmaster of the Ospedale della Pieta from 1714, began to be known in Germany between 1710 and 1720. The arrangements of his _Concerti Grossi_, which J. S. Bach made, date from the time when Bach was at Weimar, that is between 1708 and 1714.

[415] Locatelli and Vivaldi came under the influence of the Italian Opera. Vivaldi himself wrote thirty-eight operas. One of the _Concerti_ of Locatalli (Op. 7, 1741) was named _Il pianto d'Arianna_. In the _Cimento dell'Armonia_ of Vivaldi four Concertos describe the four seasons, a fifth paints _La Tempesta_, a sixth _Il Piacere_ (Pleasure). In Vivaldi's Op. 10 a Concerto represents _La Notte_ (Night), another _Il Cardellino_ (The Goldfinch). And Arnold Schering notices Vivaldi's influence in Germany on a Granpuer at Darmstadt, and on Jos. Gregorius Werner in Bohemia.

[416] See the following dates: September 29, 1739, Concerto I in G major; October 4, Concerto II in F major; October 6, Concerto III in E minor; October 8, Concerto IV in A minor; October 12, Concerto VII in B flat major; October 15, Concerto VI in G minor; October 18, Concerto VIII in C minor; October 20, Concerto XII in B minor; October 22, Concerto X in D minor; October 30, Concerto XI in A major (Vol. XXX of Complete Edition).

[417] One sees French influences particularly in the Tenth Concerto (in D minor), which has an Overture (_Grave_ in 4-4 time and Fugue in 6-8). The whole movement preserves an abstract and irregular character. The last of the six movements--an _Allegro Moderato_, with Variations (very pretty)--resembles a tune for a musical box.

[418] See even the Third Concerto in E minor, so vivacious, with its _Larghetto_ 3-2, melancholy and serene, its _Andante_ 12-8 Fugue with an elaborate theme of twirling designs which gives the impression of the fancies of a capricious and gloomy soul, its _Allegro_ in 4-4, with a humour a little grotesque--its picturesque Polonaise on a pedal-bass, and its final _allegro ma non troppo_ of which the rhythm and unexpected modulations make one think of certain dances in the later quartets of Beethoven.

[419] The Fifth Concerto in D major may be styled the Concerto to St. Cecilia; for three out of the six movements (the two first and the beautiful final minuet) are found again in the Overture to the little _Ode to St. Cecilia_.

[420] Arnold Schering believes that the idea of this Musette was given to Handel by a _ritournelle_ from Leonardo Leo's _S. Elena il Calvaroa_.

[421] The two last _allegri_ conclude the work a trifle brusquely. The order of the movements with Handel is often very surprising. It is as though he followed the caprice of the moment.

[422] We cannot continue here the analysis of the other volumes of Orchestral Concertos. I satisfy myself with merely enumerating them: The _6 Concerti grossi con due violini e violoncello di concertino obligati e due altri violini viola e basso di concerto grosso, op. 3_, known under the name of Oboe Concertos (notwithstanding that the oboe does not play a very prominent _role_), were published in 1734, and seemed to have been performed at the Wedding of the Prince of Orange with the Princess Anne in 1733. But, as we are told, their composition was previous to this; for not only do we find in the third and the fifth the reproduction of fugues from the Clavier Pieces, but the fourth served in 1716 as the second overture to _Amadigi_, and the first movement of the fifth was played in 1722 in the opera _Ottone_. The form of these Concertos, even less set than with the preceding _Concerti Grossi_, varies from two to five movements, and their orchestration comprises, besides the strings, two oboes, to which are occasionally added two flutes, two bassoons, the organ and the clavecin. It is only exceptional that the oboe plays a solo part; more often it has to satisfy itself by reinforcing the violins.

To this volume we must add a number of other concertos, which appeared at different times, and are brought together in Volume XXI of the Complete Works; especially the celebrated Concerto of _Alexander's Feast_, written in January, 1736, of which the style has the same massive breadth as the oratorio itself. And four little concertos, two of which are interesting by being youthful works, from 1703 to 1710, according to Chrysander.

[423] Handel's Overtures were so much appreciated that the publisher Walsh issued a volume of them for the clavier(65 Overtures). A good specimen of these transcriptions is found in Volume XLVIII of the Complete Edition.

[424] Both movements are rudimentary.

[425] This device is often used by Handel to make the transition between the orchestra and the voice.

[426] Scheibe, who was, with Mattheson, the greatest of German musical critics in Handel's time, states that the overture ought in its two first movements "to mark the chief character of the work"; and in the third movement "to prepare for the first scene of the piece" (_Krit. Musikus_, 1745). Scheibe himself composed in 1738 some _Sinfonie_ "which expressed to some extent the contents of the works" (_Polyeuctes, Mithridates_).

[427] _Andante_, _larghetto_, _allegro_ (fugue).

[428] Only whereas a modern composer would not have omitted the opportunity of exposing his programme in an organic manner (by presenting turn by turn the two rival themes, then by bringing them into conflict, and finally terminating with the triumph of Israel's theme), Handel contents himself in exposing the two subjects without seeking to establish any further sequence. If he finishes his overture with the theme of Baal, it is because it is a gigue movement, and because the gigue serves well there for concluding; and because Israel's song being an _adagio_ is better placed as the second movement. It is such architectural considerations which guide him rather than dramatic ones. It is the same with nearly all the symphonies of the eighteenth century. In the same manner even Beethoven in his _Eroica_ symphony allows his hero to die and be buried in the second movement, and then celebrates his acts and his triumphs in the third and fourth movements.

[429] Amongst the other overtures, which have the character of introduction to the work proper, I will mention the Overture to _Athalie_, which is in perfect accordance with the tragedy;--that of _Acis and Galatea_, which is a Pastoral Symphony evoking the Pagan life of nature;--that of the _Occasional Oratorio_, a warlike overture with two marches, trumpet calls, and a Prayer of distress. There is also the outline of a programme in the Overture to _Judas Maccabaeus_, of which the first movement is related to the Funeral Scene which opens the first act, and of which the second movement (Fugue) is connected with one of the warlike choruses of Act I.

The Overture of _Riccardo I_ (1727), in two movements, contains a tempest in music painted in a powerful and poetic manner, which opens the first act after the manner of the Tempest in _Iphigenie en Tauride_, and on the last rumblings of which the dialogue between the heroes commences.

Finally one finds occasionally in the course of the works some other _Sinfonie_ which have a dramatic character. The most striking is that which opens the third act of the _Choice of Hercules_. It depicts turn by turn the fury of Hercules and the sad force of Destiny which weighs down on his soul.

[430] Volume XLVIII of the Complete Works.

[431] The work was an immediate success. A first Edition very incorrect and incomplete was published in London about 1720, by Walsh. Arrangements for harpsichord with variations by Geminiani were also published. Both the Water Music and the Firework Music are published in Volume XLVII of the Complete Edition.

[432] One may add to these monumental pieces the _Sinfonie diverse_ (pp. 140-143 of Vol. XLVIII) and the Concerto in F major in the form of an Overture and Suite (pp. 68-100, _ibid._), but particularly the _3 Concerti fuer grosses Orchester_ and the _2 Concerti a due cori_ of Vol. XLVII. The _Concerti fuer grosses Orchester_ have been, so to speak, the sketch books for the Water Music and for the Firework Music. The first Concerto dates from about 1715, and furnished two movements for the Water Music. It is written for two horns, two oboes, bassoon, two violins, violas and bass. The second Concerto in F major (for four horns, two oboes, bassoons, two violins, violas, cellos, basses and organ); and the third Concerto in D major (for two trumpets, four horns, drums, two oboes, bassoons, two violins, violas, cellos, organ) contains already nearly all the Firework Music with a less important orchestra, but with the Organ in addition.

The two Concertos for two horns (_Concerti a due cori_) were made from the important choruses of the Oratorios transcribed for double orchestra--ten orchestral parts for the first group, twelve for the second (four horns, eight oboes, bassoons, etc.). Thus the appearance of God in _Esther_: "Jehovah crowned in glory bright," and the connected chorus: "He comes to end our woes." There are there colossal dialogues between the two orchestras.

[433] The autograph MS., published in XLVII of the Complete Edition, contains: 2 parts for trumpets with 3 trumpets to a part (_i.e._ 6 trumpets); 3 _Prinzipali_ (low trumpets); 3 drums; 3 parts for horns with 3 to a part (_i.e._ 9 Horns); 3 parts for oboes with 12 for the first part, 8 for the second and 4 for the third (_i.e._ 24 oboes); 2 parts for bassoons with 8 for the first and 4 for the second (_i.e._ 12 bassoons). Total, 70 wind instruments. There were about 100 players for the performance on April 27, 1749.

Later on, Handel reproduced the work for concert use by adding the string orchestra to it.

[434] Written for 9 horns in three sections, 24 oboes in two sections, and 12 bassoons.

[435] It would not be difficult to add other analogous works by Handel and Beethoven. There exists a fine repertoire of popular classical music for open-air _fetes_. But, nevertheless, it is completely disregarded.

[436] The Gavotte theme from the Overture to _Ottone_ was played all over England and on all kinds of instruments, "even on the pan's-pipes of the perambulating jugglers." It was found even at the end of the eighteenth century as a French vaudeville air. (see the _Anthologie francoise ou Chansons choisies_, published by Monnet, in 1765, Vol. I, p. 286). The March from _Scipio_, as also that from _Rinaldo_, served during half a century for the Parade of the Life Guards. The minuets and overtures from _Arianna_ and Berenice had a long popularity. One sees in the English novels of the time (especially in Fielding's _Tom Jones_) to what an extent Handel's music had permeated English country life, even from the small country squires to the county magnates, so absolutely cut off as they were from _all_ artistic influences.

[437] Paul Marie Masson has noticed that about the date of 1716, in a volume of _Recueil d'airs serieux et a boire_. (Bibl. Nat. Vm. 549), an _Aria del Signor Inden_ (sic), "_air ajoute au ballet de l'Europe Galante_." The _Meslanges de musique latine, francoise et italienne_ of Ballard (in 1728), contains amongst the Italian airs _Arie de Signor Endel_ (p. 61). All the airs of the _Chasse du cerf_ by Sere de Rieux (1734) are Handel airs adapted to French words. An article by Michel Brenet, _La librairie musicale en France de 1653 a 1790, d'apres les registres de privileges_ (_Sammelbaende I.M.G._, 1907) gives a series of French Editions of Handel from 1736, 1739, 1749, 1751, 1765. In 1736 and in 1743 in _Concerts Spirituels_ some of his airs and his _Concerti Grossi_ were given (Brenet: _Les Concerts en France sous l'ancien regime_, 1900). A number of his airs were arranged for the flute by Blavet in his three _Receuils de pieces, petits airs, brunettes, minuets, etc., accommodes pour les flutes traversieres, violins, etc._, which appeared between 1740 and 1750. Handel was so well known in Paris that they sold his portrait there in 1739. (See a tradesman's advertisement in the _Mercure de France_, June, 1739, Vol. II, page 1384.)